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MR. AND MRS. DOCTOR

Ifi and Job, a Nigerian couple in an arranged marriage, begin their lives together in Nebraska with a single, outrageous lie: that Job is a doctor, not a college dropout. Unwittingly, Ifi becomes his co-conspirator—that is until his first wife, Cheryl, whom he married for a green card years ago, reenters the picture and upsets Job’s tenuous balancing act.

PRAISE FOR MR. AND MRS. DOCTOR

“The interplay between Job’s rigid and secretive bluster and Ifi’s attempt to build a new American life never loses its poignancy.” NY Times

“Against a backdrop of the micro- and macroaggressions African expats endure in the West, Iromuanya presents a fascinating and often hilarious drama of marriage, highlighting the discrepancies between who we say we are and who we really are.” —Kirkus

“In agile prose, Iromuanya creates an intricate and fresh portrait of the perennial immigrant’s tale.”— The San Francisco Chronicle

“In the tradition of Andre Dubus’s House of Sand and Fog, Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is a heartbreakingly complicated story of leaving one culture and never fully entering another. A splendid debut.”—MARGOT LIVESEY

“Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is a heart-rending and open-eyed tale of a Nigerian immigrant couple’s struggle to establish a life in Nebraska. Julie Iromuanya’s vision burns away the superficial veneer of America’s promise to its newest inhabitants even as it tells a story that is classic, powerful and, in its own way, open to possibility.”—DAVID MURA

“[Mr. and Mrs. Doctor] offers a deafening examination of American justice, racial tension, marriage, the heroic journey, and the delicate art of perception.”—The Bustle

“Iromuanya . . . snaps readers to attention with the first paragraph of Mr. and Mrs. Doctor, announcing the arrival of a mature, distinctive and commanding voice.” —Paste Magazine

“Iromuanya flexes her creative muscles in this unflinching portrayal.” —Gilmore Guide to Books

” Iromuanya will have readers shifting in their seats during this read, hopefully reexamining the world (and more specifically, country) that surrounds them.” — Perspective Daily

“Rather than marring her novel with moral didacticism and chastising Job and Ifi for their many lies . . . [Iromuanya reveals] the very human weaknesses that we all share—the unwillingness to admit failure, and the desire to see ourselves reflected well in the eyes of others.”— AMINA GAUTIER, The Rumpus

“Translation is one of the levers of Iromuanya’s wonderful novel, which also puts to good use the storyteller’s tool kit of equivalences, false and true, inversions and reversals, all within a story that manages to make the most intimate idiosyncrasies and failures at once minutely, movingly real even as they map the comic and the tragic in a large and classical fashion.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune

“Job’s narrative is a contradictory one as Iromuanya explores our contemporary idea of the American Dream.” —The Riveter

“Julie Iromuanya has created a frustrating, funny, sensitive story about race, relationships and survival and how our past shapes and follows us into our future. Check out this captivating story by Iromuanya, a first time author.” — Arlington Public Library

“Mr. and Mrs. Doctor is an exceedingly well-crafted examination of marriage, expectation, appearances, and what happens after one’s carefully crafted idea of self has finally crumbled. Heartbreaking, occasionally wryly hilarious, and told in a spare, sensory style, this thoughtful debut novel ranks high in this year’s literary fiction.”—The Masters Review

“[Iromuanya] tackles the impossible hopes attached to the American dream in her debut novel about an ambitious Nigerian immigrant who lies about being a doctor to his new wife.”—Chicago Magazine

“Will Ifi and Job find their authentic selves? This is not a romance and the conclusion is a satisfying surprise.”—Pioneer Press

“No action in this novel is without consequence, and Job’s comeuppances allow Iromuanya to showcase her gifts as a dramatic storyteller, discreetly planting seeds everywhere, sowing them in unexpected ways.”— Arcadia Magazine

“Mr. and Mrs. Doctor tells a tough, complex story, but it is shot through with wit and humor, making for a surprisingly bracing read.” — Lively Arts

“Mr. and Mrs. Doctor tells a wonderfully intricate, honest story of two strangers-turned-partners surviving the 21st century American Dream.” —New Pages

“I found Mr. and Mrs. Doctor compulsive reading and kept guessing what was going to happen next. . . Success stories often read as if they are forced, not really true. Mr. and Mrs. Doctor has a ring of authenticity about it.” —Counter Punch